Red-legged Partridge (Alectorisrufa)

Taxonomy

French:Perdrix rougeGerman:RothuhnSpanish:Perdiz roja

Taxonomy:

Tetrao rufus

Linneaus

, 1758,

southern Europe = north Italy

.

Possibly closest to A. graeca. Previously thought to be close to A. chukar, A. philbyi and A. barbara; now considered to be more distant from those and from A. magna. Hybridizes with A. graeca in S French Alps. Recent study suggested that current populations resulted from post-glacial expansion and subsequent differentiation, with five diagnosable genetic clusters: south-western Iberia; central-eastern Iberia; north-western Iberia; Balearic; and French and Italian#R. However, an analysis of the control region of mitochondrial DNA (in 346 individuals sampled throughout the species distribution range) has shown that there is no distinct intraspecific phylogeographical structure, against the expected distribution of subspecies based on morphological characters; only the NW Iberian populations (race hispanica) show a weak population structure#R. Geographical plumage variation slight and clinal; Corsican population has been separated as race corsa, but usually included in nominate; race australis described from Gran Canaria (Canary Is), where species is introduced. Three subspecies recognized.

Introduced in several parts of Europe (e.g. rufa in Britain), and several Atlantic islands (hispanica in Madeira, intercedens and perhaps hispanica in Azores, intercedens in Canary Is); unsuccessfully in USA and New Zealand.

Bibliography

Public comments

I saw a pair of these in the Lake District (North-Western England) last week (early July). That was quite the last place I expected to see them as the area is generally well forested and certainly wet. Does anyone know if this was an anomaly or are there records of these birds moving into more Northern habitats elsewhere?

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Scientific classification

Includes, in Tetraonini, all taxa that have commonly been separated in families Meleagrididae and Tetraonidae.

Subfamily: Phasianinae

Tribe: Coturnicini

Genus:Alectoris Kaup, 1829

— Show genus text —

Broad molecular (mtDNA) study of Asian Phasianidae found that genera Alectoris and Perdix form a monophyletic grouping to the exclusion of all pheasants and such genera as Bambusicola and Coturnix#R. In a phylogenetic study of Alectoris#R, analyses of mtDNA sequences supported the existence of three main evolutionary events and accorded with relationships reconstructed on the basis of allozyme data. The first event separated N African A. barbara and Arabian A. melanocephala from the other Alectoris; following this, W taxa A. graeca and A. rufa separated from E species; recent speciation events gave rise to A. chukar, A. magna, and A. philbyi.

News on this species

A study of radio-tagged birds in central Spain, the main stronghold of native Red-legged Partridge (Alectoris rufa) populations, has found that hunting was the main cause of mortality and that the proportion of hunted partridges was much higher on an estate that released farm-reared birds than on three estates that did not release birds#R. Therefore, the release of farm-reared partridges, instead of reducing hunting pressure on the wild breeding stock through a dilution effect, may lead to overhunting of wild birds, further contributing to the decline of the wild population. During the last 15 years, national hunting bags have been stable, at some three million per year, perhaps sustained by releases.

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